AN ANALYSIS OF BROTHERLY LOVE IN WILLIAM WORDSWORTH’S A COMPLAINT
AN ANALYSIS OF BROTHERLY LOVE
IN WILLIAM WORDSWORTH’S A COMPLAINT
A THESIS
In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for
The S1 Degree Majoring Literature in English Department
Faculty of Humanities Diponegoro University
Submitted by:
TAOFIQ
A2B009048
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
FACULTY OF HUMANITIES
DIPONEGORO UNIVERSITY
2013
PRONOUNCEMENT
The writer confirms on compiling this thesis entitled “An Analysis of Love in William Wordsworth’s A Complaint“ by himself without taking any result of other researches in any major of any universities. Furthermore, the writer assures of not quoting or taking any material from other publications or papers except those that are mentioned in the references.
Semarang, July 2013 Taofiq
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MOTTO AND DEDICATION
“If it could be done, then it should be done.”
—Anonymous—
“If you can’t make it good, at least make it look good.”
—Bill Gates— “Be not afraid of greatness.
Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and others have greatness thrust upon them.” —William Shakespeare—
“Try not to become a man of success
but rather try to become a man of value.” —Albert Einstein—
This paper is dedicated to My beloved parent
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APPROVAL
Approved by, Thesis Advisor
Dra. Christina Resnitriwati, M.Hum NIP. 19560216 198303 2 001
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VALIDATION
Approved by Strata 1 Thesis Examination Committee
Faculty of Humanities Diponegoro University on 6 September 2013 Chair Person Drs. Siswo Harsono, M.Hum.
NIP. 19640418 199001 1 001 First Member Second Member Dra. Christina Resnitriwati, M.Hum. Eta Farmacelia N., S.S., M.Hum., M.A.
NIP. 19560216 198303 2 001 NIP. 19720529 200312 2 001
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Praise be to God Almighty, who has given bounty of strength and true spirit so this thesis on “An Analysis of Love in William Wordsworth’s A Complaint” came to a completion. Here, the writer would like to thank all those people who have helped and played a part to the completion of this thesis.
The deepest gratefulness and appreciation are extended to the writer beloved advisor, Dra. Christina Resnitriwati, M.Hum, who has given continuous support, helpful correction and suggestion, without which it is unlikely that this thesis could came into completion.
The writer’s sincere gratitude also goes to the following:
1. Dr. Agus Maladi Irianto, M.A. as the Dean of Faculty of Humanities, Diponegoro University.
2. Sukarni Suryanigsih, S.S, M.Hum. as the Head of English Department, Faculty of Humanities, Diponegoro University.
3. Drs. Siswo Harsono, M.Hum. as the Head of Literature Section, English Department, Faculty of Humanities, Diponegoro University.
4. All lecturers and academic officers in the Faculty of Humanities, Diponegoro University.
5. The writer’s parent and family for their unlimited kind encouragement and motivation.
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6. Arif Rachman, Fendi, Hanif, Icha, Khory, Nonik Rahma, Norman, Rena, Renanda Prima , Rukma, Sasha Endah, Wijna Akhila, and all of 2009 students especially C-Class family for being great comrades and motivations.
7. Herdiana Indah Cahyani, for her bright and cheerful support.
8. Former and current warriors of Gita Bahana Arisatya.
9. All friends and acquaintances in English Department and in the Faculty of Humanities.
Above and beyond, the writer looking for generous apology for all mistakes to anyone that possibly offended on the process of completing this study. The writer also realizes that this thesis is not perfect. Thus, the writer would be glad to receive any constructive criticism and recommendation to help him to make better writing in the future. At last, the writer expects that this thesis will be useful for the readers.
Semarang, July 2013 The Writer
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viii TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER III THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK .................................................... 10
4.1 Intrinsic Analysis ........................................................................ 17
CHAPTER IV INTRINSIC AND EXTRINSIC ANALYSIS OF A COMPLAINT . 17
3.2 Extrinsic Aspects ........................................................................ 14
3.1.2.4 Auditory Imagery................................................... 14
3.1.2.3 Kinesthetic Imagery............................................... 13
3.1.2.2 Organic Imagery .................................................... 13
3.1.2.1 Visual Imagery....................................................... 12
3.1.2 Imagery.............................................................................. 11
3.1.1 Diction ............................................................................... 10
3.1 Intrinsic Aspects ......................................................................... 10
2.3 The Translation of the Poem......................................................... 9
TITLE............................................................................................................................. i PRONOUNCEMENT ................................................................................................... ii MOTTO AND DEDICATION .................................................................................... iii APPROVAL................................................................................................................. iv
2.2 The Poem ...................................................................................... 8
2.1 William Wordsworth’s Biography ............................................... 6
CHAPTER II AUTHOR AND HIS WORK.............................................................. 6
1.5 Organization of the paper ............................................................. 4
1.4 Method of the Study ..................................................................... 3
1.3 Objectives of the Study................................................................. 3
1.2 Research Problem ......................................................................... 2
1.1 Background of the Study .............................................................. 1
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION .............................................................................. 1
VALIDATION.............................................................................................................. v ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ........................................................................................... vi TABLE OF CONTENTS........................................................................................... viii ABSTRACT.................................................................................................................. x
4.1.1 Diction .............................................................................. 17
4.1.2 Imagery ............................................................................. 25
4.1.2.1 Visual Imagery....................................................... 25
4.1.2.2 Organic Imagery .................................................... 28
4.1.2.3 Kinesthetic Imagery............................................... 30
4.1.2.4 Auditory Imagery................................................... 31
4.2 Extrinsic Analysis ....................................................................... 32
4.2.1 The Definition of the Speaker’s Love ............................... 32
4.2.2 The Speaker’s Brotherly Love........................................... 35
4.2.3 Love effects to the Speaker ............................................... 37
4.2.4 The Speaker’s Love Problem ............................................ 38
4.2.5 Facing the Love Problem .................................................. 40
CHAPTER V CONCLUSION................................................................................. 42 BIBLIOGRAPHY ....................................................................................................... 43
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ABSTRACT
This paper is a study about love. The writer discusses a love poem of William Wordsworth entitled “A Complaint”. The purpose of the study is to understand the poem through analyzing the meaning of the speaker’s love. In order to understand the meaning of love in the poem, the writer analyzes the intrinsic and the extrinsic aspects of the poem.
The intrinsic analysis covers two main objectives, which are the diction and the imagery. The extrinsic analysis discussed the love of the speaker by using the art of loving theory by Erich Fromm. The results of this study show the meaning of love as a holy, joyful, and eternal feeling to the speaker. The writer also finds the type of the speaker’s love, which is brotherly love. Brotherly love is love between equal based on the sense of care, respect, and responsibility.
Keyword: Diction, Imagery, Brotherly Love, Change. x
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION1.1 Background of the Study
Literature is the written version of human life. Literature does not only being the written expression of the writer, but it also records history and future thought of life. From many kinds of literature, poem is one of the most popular. Poem is the literary work of words and phrases that are arranged in a particular way, which is beautiful. Poem is popular for its simplicity but deep meaning inside. The simplicity is that poem can be created even by using kids’ words. Simple words and sentences can build a great poem when it’s arranged well. As Cleanth Brooks and Robert Warren noted in the Understanding Poetry that a poem is created by language, literary convention, and ideas (1952: 516). Then the most important part of a poem is its meaning. Whatever beautiful the language and the arrangement of a poem, it’s nothing but the meaning to be understood. The meaning that comes out from the poet’s ideas and intention is passing a deep thinking before it’s expressed in words. Thus, since a poem is the expression of the poet, then no one can blame it wrong.
The most popular poem today is love poem. Why it is so popular is that people assume the poetic diction in poem is romantic and they are excited on making love poem for their beloved. While, the romanticism period in English has started between 1798 when William Wordsworth and Coleridge began compiling and publishing their Lyrical Ballad in 1837. The romanticism period in English was
2 filled with the love of nature since the poets in that era were mostly writing about nature. Romanticism poems are based on the poets’ experience of nature, whether it is of a landscape-view or of a person impression experience. The one that differ the romanticism poem from the other poem is that it focuses on a particular and individual subject as Martin Steinmann and Gerald Willen mention in the
Literature for Writing the Second Edition, “the romantics tend to be interested in
the particular rather than the general; in the exotic, the idiosyncratic, the odd, the abnormal, rather than the typical and the normal; in the individual rather than the species” (1967: 555).
One of the most popular poets in the romanticism period is William Wordsworth. He is the author of We are Seven, Daffodils, I Wandered Lonely as a
Cloud, and The World is Too Much With Us. As the romanticism poet, his poems
came truly from his impression of the nature. Here the writer is going to analyze one of Wordsworth’s poems entitled A Complaint. This poem is on the Wordsworth’s Prelude and is one of his famous works. A Complaint is a love poem. The writer found it very interesting because it is not only told about love but more about love and how it affects people. A Complaint tells about a complaint expressed by the poet on a change of his beloved. That there is a change o his beloved made him sad. The writer will analyze the meaning of love in the poem and how it affects the poet.
1.2 Research Problem
A Complaint is a love poem that is not only tells about love itself but also about
the effects that caused by love. The writer read the poem deeply and found the
3 problems to be studied. That A Complaint is a love poem, the writer finds the he has to analyze the meaning of love as expressed in the poem. Then the writer needs to examine what kind of love the speaker has in the poem. Another problem found in the poem is that there is a problem caused by love that affects to the speaker, so the writer needs to analyze how love can affects the speaker, what the problem is, and how the speaker face the problem.
1.3 Objectives of the Study
The main objective of this study is to understand and to appreciate the A
Complaint poem by William Wordsworth. In order to understand and to
appreciate the poem, the writer makes five points that answer the questions in the research problem, the points are:
1. To find the definitions of love.
2. To find what kind of love the speaker has.
3. To find how love can affect the speaker.
4. To find out what love problems faced by the speaker.
5. To analyze how the speaker face his love problem.
1.4 Method of the Study
The writer conducts the study using the expressive orientation. Abrams, in The
Mirror and the Lamp, describes expressive orientation as:
A work of art is essentially the internal made external, resulting from a creative process operating under the impulse of feeling, and embodying the combined product of the poet’s perceptions, thoughts, and feelings. The primary source and subject matter of a poem, therefore, are attributes and actions of the poet’s mind; or if aspects of the external world, then these only as they are converted from fact to poetry by the feelings and operations of the poet’s mind. (1953: 22)
4 The expressive orientation focuses on studying the object by taking references in the author’s real life. The object of this study is a poem entitled A Complaint by
William Wordsworth. In studying the poem, the writer uses the library research method. The library research method is held through studying books and references related to the study. As Wellek and Warren described about library research, “the knowledge of most important libraries and familiarity with catalogues as well as other reference books is undoubtedly an important equipment of almost every student of literature” (1948: 58).
1.5 Organization of the Paper
This paper is built in five sections, which are:
1. CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION
This chapter consists of five different points. First is the background of the study, it gives the brief description on the reason and the object of the study.
Second, the research problem that consists of all the questions found by the writer in this study. The third is the objectives of the study that contain the purposes of the study. The method of the study describes how the writer conducting the study. And the last is the organization of the paper that describes the structure of this paper.
2. CHAPTER II: AUTHOR AND HIS WORK
This chapter is talking about the object of the study. There are two points in this chapter, that are the biography of the author and the poem that is the object of this study.
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3. CHAPTER III: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
Within this chapter is the literature review of the theories used by the writer in conducting the study. There are two main points, that is the intrinsic and the extrinsic aspects. The first point consists of the theories used in analyzing the intrinsic aspects of the study that is the Diction. Then, the second point describes the theories used in analyzing the extrinsic aspects of the study, which are the Love and the psychoanalytic theory.
4. CHAPTER IV: ANALYSIS
This chapter contains the writer’s analysis on the object of the study. The analysis is separated in two points, that is the intrinsic and the extrinsic aspects.
The intrinsic analysis contains the paraphrase and the analysis on diction. The extrinsic analysis contains the discussion on the meaning of love, the type of speaker’s love, how it affects the speaker, the problem appeared and how it is solved using the psychoanalytic approach.
5. CONCLUSION
The conclusion describes the result of the writer’s study in which the questions on the study is answered.
CHAPTER II AUTHOR AND HIS WORK
2.1 William Wordsworth’s Biography
According to The Norton Anthology of English Literature Volume 2, William Wordsworth was born on 7 April 1770 in Cockermouth, Cumberland, in the Lake District. The 8-year-old William Wordsworth was sent to school at Hawkshead after his mother death. There he met the headmaster William Taylor who lent him some books and encouraged his inclination in poetry.
His father, John Wordsworth, died suddenly when Wordsworth was 13. John Wordsworth’s children were left in difficulties of continuing life. Nevertheless, Wordsworth was able to go to St. John’s College at Cambridge in 1787.
In 1790, during the summer vacation of his third year in Cambridge, he went on a tour with his friend, Robert Jones, to France and the Alps. He seemed to be interested with France that after completing his course in Cambridge he went back to France alone to master the language and qualify as a traveling tutor. A year in France, 1971-1972, he fell in love with a young French woman, Annette Vallon, an impetuous and warm-hearted daughter of a French surgeon. They were planned to marry. However, the lack of fund forced Wordsworth to left Annette to England only after their daughter, Caroline, was born. The war of England and France then prevented Wordsworth to meet Annette anymore.
Under the desperation of love and lack of fund, one of Wordsworth friend, Raisley Calvert, died and left him a sum of money. The money enabled him to
7 live better. He then lived with his sister, Dorothy, in a rent-free cottage at Racedown, Dorseshire, in 1975. At the same time, he met Samuel Taylor Coleridge that gave him support and advises on writing poems. Two years later, Wordsworth moved to Alfoxden to be near to where Coleridge was. There, Wordsworth and Coleridge were discussing of poems almost everyday. They then published the Lyrical Ballad in 1798. Wordsworth’s new style of poetry made him famous soon. He was able to improve his life and then brought his sister Dorothy to move permanently at Grasmere. In 1802, they finally got their father’s legacy that made their life much better. Wordsworth was then married Mary Hutchinson, a friend of his childhood. He fathered five children from Mary Hutchinson.
Wordsworth gained prosperity and reputation of his great poems. He published the Poems in Two Volumes in 1807 in which most of his great poems were. He continued writings though it was not as great as before. Because of his great influences in literature in that time, he was awarded honorary degrees, and in 1843 he was appointed as the poet laureate. He died in 1850 at the age of 80, only then his executors published his masterpiece of the autobiographical poems which he had begun in 1798, The Prelude, where the A Complaint is in.
The A Complaint according to Romanticism in InfoRefuge.com is the poem that Wordsworth wrote for his best friend, Samuel Taylor Coleridge. The complaint is due the changed Coleridge. Coleridge got addicted to drink and opium that slowly broke his mind and changed his behavior. Wordsworth feels pity of the change that deteriorating their relationship.
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2.2 The Poem
This poem is taken from Classic Poetry Series: William Wordsworth – Poems (2004: 20).
A Complaint
There is a change—and I am poor; Your love hath been, nor long ago, A fountain at my fond heart’s door, Whose only business was to flow; And flow it did; not taking heed Of its own bounty, or my need.
What happy moments did I count! Blest was I then all bliss above! Now, for that consecrated fount Of murmuring, sparkling, living love, What have I? Shall I dare to tell? A comfortless and hidden well.
A well of love—it may be deep— I trust it is, —and never dry: What matter? If the waters sleep In silence and obscurity.
—Such change, and at the very door Of my fond heart, hath made me poor.
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2.3 The Translation of the Poem Sebuah Keluhan
Ada yang telah berubah, yang membuatku merana Cintamu, yang dulu pernah menjadi Air mancur di pintu hatiku tercinta Yang hanya kutahu mengalir terus Dan benar-benar mengalir saja, tanpa perduli Atas apa yang dia berikan, atau apa yang aku butuhkan Betapa indah saat-saat yang telah kulalui! Aku telah diberkahi segala keindahan itu Namun kini, untuk sumber air nan suci Atas cinta yang hidup, menyala-nyala, lagi lirih itu Apa yan telah aku dapatkan? Sanggupkah aku menyampaikan? Aliran cinta itu menuju sumur tersembunyi yang gelap Sebuah sumur cinta yang mungkin dalam Aku percaya bahwa sumur itu tak akan kering Namun bagaimana? Jika air cintapun terperangkap Dalam sumur gelap dan galau Perubahan seperti itu, tepat di pintu Hatiku tercinta, telah membuatku merana
CHAPTER III THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
3.1 Intrinsic Aspects
The intrinsic aspects of poem build its meaning as well as the beauty. There are many intrinsic aspects build up the unity of a poem. Here, the writer will only use two kinds of poem’s intrinsic aspects in this study, there are diction and imagery.
3.1.1 Diction Since poems are created of words, the word choice is indeed really important.
The word choice or the diction is one of critical parts to be concerned in creating the poem. The poet has to precisely choose the words that can cast the meaning of his poem. It is because the words in the poem are not only used to deliver the information but also more to express feelings and to bring imagination to the readers. To pick the most meaningful words are more important than to choose the noble-sounding words. The right choice and the right arrangement of words in a poem are enough to increase both the beauty and the emotion.
The meaning of the words used in a poem determines the meaning of the poem itself. Therefore, the poet has to, once again, be careful on selecting the right word so that the reader can get the right meaning expressed by the poet. There are two basic meaning of words that commonly used in poems, which are denotation and connotation. Denotation, based on Laurence Perrine in the
Literature Structure, Sound, and Sense, is “the dictionary meaning or meanings of
11 the word” (1969: 38). The dictionary meaning or the daily-life meaning of words comes from common words that are used for its simplicity. The simplicity of common words with its common meaning is used as so the reader can imagine the poet’s purpose easily. However, poets are more likely to use the connotation meaning of words in their poem. Perrine describes connotation as what it suggests beyond what is expresses: its overtones of meaning...
Connotation is very important to the poet, for it is one of the means by which he can concentrate or enrich his meaning—say more in fewer words. (1969: 38-39) Connotation has wider coverage of meanings that can strengthen the poem.
Connotation does not show merely the image emerged from a word, but more of the feeling and emotion of the word.
The example of denotation and connotation can be taken form the word “rose”. The dictionary meaning of “rose” in Oxford Advanced Learner’s
Dictionary is a sweet-smelling flower that grows on a bush and usually has thorns
on its stems (1995: 1022). While the connotation meaning of “rose” usually, like one used in the first line of William Blake’s The Sick Rose “O rose, thou art sick!” (adapted from Brooks and Warren, 1952: 360), refers to a woman.
3.1.2 Imagery
Imagery, from Oxford dictionary, is “imaginative language that produces pictures in the mind of people reading or listening” (1995: 592). When reading a poem, such images will emerge in the readers mind. The seen images coming from the experience that is recalled by the words will guide the readers to arrange the setting and atmosphere provided in the poem. Imagery in the poem is not only uses to give the readers the images of setting and atmosphere in the poem, as
12 written by Brooks and Warren in Understanding Poetry, “The images do much more than merely provide a setting or stimulate the imagination or furnish pictures pleasing in themselves. …images are the important devices for interpretation” (1952:269).
The images, as the devices for interpretation, play a big role in delivering the speaker intention to the readers. The images suggest idea and emotion that are needed by the readers to rebuild and to feel the experience as felt by the speaker.
In reading poem, there is not only the image of visual appearance that will come to the mind of the reader. Perrine stated that imagery is “the representation to the imagination of sense experience” (1969: 54). The sense experience refers to all of the sense that can be accepted and felt by the readers. Though the mind will mostly give a visual appearance at first, but it can give more images that represent other senses experience, as Perrine said:
But an image may also represent a sound; a smell; a taste; a tactile experience, such as hardness, wetness, or cold; an internal sensation, such as hunger, thirst, or nausea; or movement or tension in the muscles or joints. (1969: 54) The five senses of human body are the basic receptors used in the imagery; they are visual, auditory, tactile, olfactory, and gustatory. The two others are included in bodily process and feels, they are organic and kinesthetic.
In this study, the writer will only use the following imagery:
3.1.2.1 Visual imagery
This imagery is based on what we can see, imaginatively, from what expressed in the poem. The example of this kind of imagery can be taken from Robert Browning’s Meeting at Night (adapted from Perrine, 1969: 55)
13 The gray see and the long black land; And the yellow half-moon large and low
Those two stanzas in the beginning of the poem draw us the setting of the poem with the image of the gray see, the long black land, the yellow half-moon.
Those stanzas give us not only the setting of the poem but more clearly mentioned the color of the sea, the land, and the moon that bring us to feel the atmosphere in the poem.
3.1.2.2 Organic imagery
The organic imagery brings internal sensations to the readers. The internal sensations are such as hunger, thirsty, nausea, fear, pain, and sad. The Meeting at
Night gives a good example of this kind of imagery
And a voice less loud, through its joys and fears, The organic imagery is on the joys and fears. The feelings of joys and fears are felt by our heart that can lead to happiness and anxieties, they are organic imagery.
3.1.2.3 Kinesthetic imagery
The kinesthetic imagery defines movements of anything in the poem to the readers. An example of kinesthetic imagery can be taken from Robert Browning’s
Meeting at Night
And the startled little waves that leap In fiery ringlets from their sleep,
Each of those two stanzas is all contains kinesthetic imagery. The startled little waves and the fiery ringlets are all the description motions.
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3.1.2.4 Auditory imagery
The auditory imagery brings imaginative sounds from the poem to be heard by our hearing sense. The Meeting at Night also gives us a good example of this kind of imagery
A tap at the pane, the quick sharp scratch And blue spurt of a lighted match,
Those stanzas produce clear imaginative sounds for the readers. The sound of the tap at the pane and the quick sharp scratch of the lighted match come gorgeously to the readers hearing.
3.2 Extrinsic Aspects
Love is very important in human’s life. Love is given by God for all living being. For human, love is shared to one another to dissolve their separateness and loneliness, to achieve oneness with the other. Love is often really hard to understand. We can look at the dictionary to find a definition of love, which is “a strong feeling of deep affection for somebody or something” (1995: 699). Nevertheless, it has a general meaning as feeling of affection, whether it is passionate or not. Erich Fromm in The Art of Loving gives another definition of love, which is “the active concern for the life and the growth of that which we love” (1995: 72).
That love is an active concern means that love needs most of our care and concern for that we love, practically. To love is an activity of giving. This giving activity is based on the basic elements of love mentioned by Erich Fromm; they are care, responsibility, respect, and knowledge. Fromm gives a brilliant example
15 on this, that is “if a woman told us that she loved flowers, and we saw that she forgot to water them, we would not believe in her “love” for flowers” (1995: 72).
As showed in the example, to love flowers is to care them and to water them in responsibility as her respect and knowledge that flowers need it to live and grow.
Here, the giving activity is practiced in joyous since she will be happy if the flowers grow well and unfold beauty colors.
Love transforms and gives different feeling and effects based on its objects. Fromm divides love based on its objects into five different types, which are Brotherly Love, Motherly Love, Erotic Love, Self-Love, and Love of God. Here, the writer will only use the Brotherly love to analyze the poem. Brotherly love is love between equal based on the sense of responsibility, care, respect, knowledge of the other and the wish of further his life (1995: 120). Brotherly love is love for our brother, all of our brothers. The very characteristic of brotherly love is its lack of exclusiveness. In brotherly love, we love our brothers and all other human with the same capacity. We just love them all the same, no need particular characteristic or qualities to be loved. We love them and we care of anything happened to them. We love the helpless brothers and they do so when we are helpless. This kind of love is based on the human solidarity and human at- onement, that we all are one.
Though it is divided in different types, it has the same meaning for people that love is important. The importance of love is showed by the fact that, Fromm mentioned, love is the answer to the problem of human existence. Love does not only give cares and attentions but also brings oneness and peacefulness. The
16 nature of love that is soft and calm can lead to a peaceful condition. Love is the only one that calms down the war and is the one that unite the people. While, somehow, love also lead to worst condition when the blind love take control.
CHAPTER IV
INTRINSIC AND EXTRINSIC ANALYSIS OF A COMPLAINT4.1 Intrinsic Analysis
The diction and imagery discussion in the intrinsic analysis is unwrapping the meaning inside of the A Complaint. The diction analysis covers the denotation and connotation of words used in the poem. While the imagery analysis covers the visual, organic, kinesthetic, and auditory imagery discussions of the poem.
4.1.1 Diction
The poem was written with meaningful words. The words in the poem are selected to support the purpose of the poem itself. To understand the poem, it is needed to understand the meaning of the words used in it. Here is analysis of the diction in the poem.
The title of the poem, A Complaint, clearly stated what the purpose of the poem, which is to complain. Complaint means not only the action of complaining, but it also includes the reason for not being satisfied (1995: 233). There must be a problem or even problems, of dissatisfaction, that led the speaker to complain.
The problem may be found by understanding the poem. In order to understand the poem, as mentioned above, it is needed to understand the words of the poem. This can be done by analyzing the diction in every single line below:
First Stanza
There is a change—and I am poor;
18 Begin from the very first line of the poem, the using of change brings the dictionary meaning of the word that is a variation in one’s routine, occupation, surroundings, etc (1995: 185). The change here is, more accurately, a different occurred on something of the speaker’s concern leading the speaker to a poor condition. The poor here may refer to a feeling of disappointed by something that is in contrast with what is usual or expected (1995: 896). The speaker is disappointed by the dissatisfaction of the change happened.
Your love hath been, nor long ago, In the second line of the first stanza, there is one keyword of the poem, love, for the poem itself is a love poem. Love is a strong feeling of deep affection for somebody or something (1995: 699). Love actually has wider meaning than its dictionary meaning, it’s not merely affection. To love is to respect, to understand, and to care of the one beloved.
A fountain at my fond heart’s door, A fountain is an ornament structure or statue, often in a pool or lake, from which one or more jets of water are pumped out into the air (1995: 467). The
fountain in this poem is the delineation of love decorating the speaker’s heart’s
door. The beauty of the statue in the center of the pool, the clean water, and the attractive spouted water illustrate the beauty of love. Love is not only live in his heart, it beautifies and cheers him.
Whose only business was to flow; The above line describes the business of the fountain. The business mentioned is the duty of love itself, which is to flow. To flow is not just to move
19 freely and continuously, to circulate in the fountain, but more to be produced smoothly, continuously and naturally (1995: 451). It affirms that the speaker’s fountain is not only a decoration in his heart, but this is also a fountain in which love is coming from and flowing in.
And flow it did; not taking heed
Did, is the past form of do, it means that the fountain is not flowing love
anymore, whether it is stopped or is gone. This maybe the change mentioned by the speaker in the first line that made him poor. Moreover, love is not even taking any heed when it was flowing. Heed means careful attention (1995: 555). The using of heed shows how the speaker carefully chose a meaningful word that perfectly expresses his feeling. By the using of heed, it is clear that the speaker expect something that is unfortunately ignored by love. He expected that love will give him not just attention, but a careful attention, which tender and patient.
Of its own bounty, or my need. The bounty means what love gave to the speaker, generously. The pleasure of being loved is the gift from love. However, it seems that love did not give him all what he want, that the speaker said love did not taking heed of his need.
The first stanza of the poem openly states the speaker’s feeling in clear words and expressions. In the introduction of the poem, the very first line, the speaker straightly blows what problem he faced, that there is a change that made him
poor. The change refers to her beloved’s love, which has been a fountain of his
heart, which suddenly stopped flowing. The reason why love is not flowing anymore has not been stated in the first stanza.
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Second Stanza
What happy moments did I count! Begin the second stanza, the word what here refers to an exclamation. The speaker realizes of happy moments he got from love. The word happy in the dictionary means feeling or expressing pleasure, contentment (1995: 541). This shows how love gave him its bounty to the speaker. The word happy is also the acronym of poor in the first line, that happy is a feeling of satisfaction (contentment) and poor is a feeling of dissatisfaction. This exclamation proves that love has given him happiness before the change happened and the poorness takes the place. While the word count means to calculate the total of something (1995: 264). The purpose of this line is to show how many happy moments given by love.
Blest was I then all bliss above! The using of blest confirms the religiosity of the speaker. Blest is the passive form of bless that means to ask for God’s favour and protection (1995: 113). Only
God can bless people since no one has the power to give people miracle and such
bliss. Bliss is perfect happiness, great joy (1995: 114). It used to emphasize the
meaning of happy in the previous line since the quantity of happiness in the bliss is massive and perfect. The meaning of this line is nearly the same as the previous line, which is to show that love is a blessing that brought the speaker happy moments and even bliss.
21 Now, for that consecrated fount
This next line also brings the religiosity of the speaker. Consecrated comes from the word consecrate means to bring something in religious use or admit somebody into a religious office(s) by a special ceremony (1995: 244). So, here the meaning of consecrated is holy or purified. While, fount is a source or origin of something (1995:467). The fount may refer to the fountain in the third line of the poem. The consecrated fount is the holy fountain where love is coming from and flowing in.
Of murmuring, sparkling, living love, Here, the speaker uses three different words to describe love he felt. Love described as murmuring, sparkling, and living. Murmuring means making a low continues sound. Sparkling means shining with flashes of light. While living means currently alive or is being used. Those three words have their own meaning that is supporting each other in describing love for the speaker. The speaker feels the love as a feeling lives in and brightens his heart whispering him the songs of love.
What have I? Shall I dare to tell?
Dare is not simply to be to be brave to do something, there is a lot of courage
to be fearless of the consequences. There is also challenge in the dare to perform the quest that is not only enclosed consequences but also rewards. The speaker is wondering if he dares to speak the truth that must be not good. He is considering of what he has, of what he got from love, before deciding to be dare enough to tell the truth. The truth must be about the change happened to love.
22 A comfortless and hidden well. The line above is describing about a well in the speaker’s heart. A well is a deep hole in the ground, usually lined with brick or stone, for obtaining water from under the ground (1995: 1354). The well in someone’s heart wouldn’t be physical well containing water. It is described as comfortless and hidden.
Comfortless means without comfort or is not comfort. Comfort is the state of
being free from suffering, pain or worry; feeling at ease (1995: 226). The
comfortless well here can be interpreted as a gloomy well where there are both
dark and uneasy to live in. While hidden means out of sight whether it is unknown or is veiled. The hidden well is somewhere unknown in the speaker’s heart, a mysterious place.
Those lines in the second stanza are telling the flowing stream of love. It was told in the first stanza that love was coming from the fountain. The flowing stream of love brings happiness and even bliss to the speaker. Then love is flowing to a
well, a gloomy and mysterious well somewhere in the speaker’s heart. This
condition leads the speaker to an anxiety that something terrible is about to happen.
Third Stanza
A well of love—it may be deep— The last stanza begin with more description of the well spoken in the preceding stanza, it is a well of love. It may be said that this well is where love flows after leaving the fountain. This may be the reason why love is not flowing
23 anymore in the fountain, love is all stored in the well. Furthermore, the well of love is deep. Deep means far down or in (1995: 304). The deep of a well of love is not just its depth in measure, that it has a huge capacity. Besides, it was told that the well is comfortless and hidden. So, the deep in this line may have additional function to emphasize the gloominess and the mysteriousness of the well. A deep, gloomy, and mysterious well is truly uneasy to live in, even for the sparkling love.
I trust it is, —and never dry: The speaker trusts the well. To trust is not just to depend or to rely on somebody or something, it is more to believe with hope and faith. That the speaker trusts the well will never dry means he believes that the well able to keep love still, though the speaker himself does not know where is the exact place of the well and that it is genuinely dark in there. However, the dry here is not merely the lost of water like in the ordinary well. Since the well is a well of love, dry may refer to emptiness, dull, boring, or feeling of no emotion. If a well of love is dry, it means that love has gone, there won’t be any sparkling lights anymore from love, this that lead to the feeling of no emotion.